Let’s just get right to it, and address the Windhandlephant in the room. Daevar’s previous albums were Windhand fanfiction. Both Delirious Rites and Amber Eyes are both wonderfully crafted contemporary stoner grunge offerings that scratch a particular itch. That itch, unfortunately, at least for me, was the long absence of anything new coming out of the Richmond, VA stoner grunge that started it all. When I came across Daevar (by chance looking for Daeva) the band logo and album cover of Amber Eyes immediately piqued my interest.
The sepia album cover of a woman in a burka with the upside down cross off the R in Davear gave me clear indication what I was about to get into, and stoner anything almost immediately gets my consideration due to it being one of my favorite metal subgenres. I was stunned at how similar they sounded to Windhand. That shock shifted into feeling dirty when I got to Amber Eyes. The slow chugging riffs were something completely out of Garrett Morris’ playbook, as Pardis Latifi did her best to emulate the ghostly vocals of Dorthia Cottrell. It left me with an ethical/moral puzzle about how I felt about a band that sounded too similar to another band.
Obviously, this comes with a hint of hypocrisy coming from me considering I lauded the entire genre of death metal for the exact same thing. I ultimately left it as understandable. The intoxicating influence of masterful work from a subgenre formative band isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Windhand is wonderful, and an incredible standout in the space. On top of that Daevar were fucking great honing in on that sound, but it left me wondering how they would approach Sub Rosa.
Fortunately, the intoxication has subsided, and the heavy influence that Windhand has over this band has been parsed down for the more Daevar sounding elements to shimmer in the spotlight. Sub Rosa detaches itself from that orbit, but doesn’t forget it either. The texture of the riffs Casper Orfgan provides still heavily resemble something you could hear on a Windhand album, but it plays out instead of imitation, a nod and note of inspiration. Initial track leans heavier into the grunge elements with Latifi providing her melancholic delivery over some acoustic reverb that lends way softly into the pummeling bassline that smashes through everything with the percussion that follows. From that point on, Daevar resemble nothing but Daevar now. It’s an intriguing turn of events that has converted me into a fan, and I’ve since dropped the guilt. Latifi’s melodies stand on their own as they tether to the percussion but evaporate to non existence, as she turns around and beautifully stretches them out. It’s heavy and ethereal–nothing we haven’t heard before, but when done well, can be acknowledged and cherished.
Elsewhere, “Siren Song” continues with enveloping the grungier elements into the songcraft, but much like “Catcher in the rye” it’s simply a fakeout before the trio up the tempo and provide a present an alt rock banger drenched in the swampy texture of stoner/doom with a catchy choruses to boot.
“Forgotten Tale” operates one standard stoner/doom fare, but share a similar texture to MWWB‘s (FKA Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard) penchant for oversaturation and everything slowly, but surely bleeding together. All three members of Daevar genuinely concoct their own spell and churn their own witch’s brew to present a decent combination that handles that well. Moritz Bausch’s percussion is pronounced enough to feel like stone falling through tissue paper, and does a good job clearing the way and confining the dense fucking riffs from his other two bandmates. “Mirrors” highlights his capacity to do just that, but really picking any of the 7 tracks out of the 31 minutes will provide ample evidence, as well.
I’m not going to bullshit anyone and say I didn’t come to review this album without a chip on my shoulder, and I was fully well and ready to lament the similarities I’ve picked out, but in getting older I’ve realized how exciting it is to be wrong. While ego can fuck with you to avoid it, being wrong presents a new opportunity to see things differently, Fortunately for Daevar, with Sub Rosa, I stand happily corrected, and flat out wrong. I can only draw lines from their elements to the source, but see them as their very much as standing on their own with Sub Rosa. It’s exciting to see where they go from here. Whichever way that is, I’ll be listening.
